The world must come to terms with its history
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 27, 2009 00:00
U.S. President Barack Obama pleased few with his "Meds Yeghern" effort at Solomonic politics on Friday. A sense of disappointment is shared here at the Daily News. This is not a topic on which we enjoy a consensus among our editors; opinions and views are diverse. There are, however, various common threads in our reaction. Among them:
We understand Obama’s political predicament. A strident and well-organized lobby on the one hand, and a critical ally at the gateway to "the world’s arch of crises," to use the phrase of one of his top diplomats, on the other. Difficult? Yes. Our problem? No.
Our second theme is essentially that of President Abdullah Gül in his reaction. We do not want to get into a cynical numbers game. But the context for the events of 1915 was a near-century of bloodletting in the collapsing Ottoman Empire. Western accounts at the time almost routinely focused on the deaths of Christians as a matter of concern, those of Muslims as a sort of local matter among the "primitives." Obama’s lack of sensitivity to this surprises us.
However one describes the events of 1915, virtually all historians involved agree on the role of the "Great Powers" in instigating the ethnic nationalism that ultimately consumed so many lives. No enduring solution to the problems between Turks and Armenians can be externally imposed. Reconciliation must authentically emanate from within our two societies. Obama seems to understand this. We hope so.
The candid discussion required for Turkey and Armenia to "come to terms" on their history, that ostensibly sought by Obama and so many European leaders, would be greatly aided by a spirit of reciprocity. The Holocaust of World War II has arguably been confronted by Germany. But many historic atrocities have not. Great Britain has never apologized for the Dresden fire bombing of World War II whose sole aim was civilian death. The current EU President, the Czech Republic, has rejected any atonement for its ethnic cleansing of 2 million of its own citizens in 1948. It was only in 2004 that Germany apologized for what many argue was the first genocide of the 20th century, the 1904 killings in what is today Namibia. And it was not much of an apology. Americans have moved fitfully toward acknowledgement of many crimes, chiefly the treatment of blacks and Native Americans. One atrocity never pronounced by American leaders, however, is the killing that resulted from America’s occupation and annexation of the Philippines in 1898. This is regarded by many historians as a clear case of genocide. Japan has resisted any apology for the "rape of Nanking," the killing of 300,000 civilians in six weeks in 1938.
The amnesia of others is no excuse for our own. We and Armenia should proceed to correct ours. But coming to terms with history is a challenge for the whole world.
Our second theme is essentially that of President Abdullah Gül in his reaction. We do not want to get into a cynical numbers game. But the context for the events of 1915 was a near-century of bloodletting in the collapsing Ottoman Empire. Western accounts at the time almost routinely focused on the deaths of Christians as a matter of concern, those of Muslims as a sort of local matter among the "primitives." Obama’s lack of sensitivity to this surprises us.
However one describes the events of 1915, virtually all historians involved agree on the role of the "Great Powers" in instigating the ethnic nationalism that ultimately consumed so many lives. No enduring solution to the problems between Turks and Armenians can be externally imposed. Reconciliation must authentically emanate from within our two societies. Obama seems to understand this. We hope so.
The candid discussion required for Turkey and Armenia to "come to terms" on their history, that ostensibly sought by Obama and so many European leaders, would be greatly aided by a spirit of reciprocity. The Holocaust of World War II has arguably been confronted by Germany. But many historic atrocities have not. Great Britain has never apologized for the Dresden fire bombing of World War II whose sole aim was civilian death. The current EU President, the Czech Republic, has rejected any atonement for its ethnic cleansing of 2 million of its own citizens in 1948. It was only in 2004 that Germany apologized for what many argue was the first genocide of the 20th century, the 1904 killings in what is today Namibia. And it was not much of an apology. Americans have moved fitfully toward acknowledgement of many crimes, chiefly the treatment of blacks and Native Americans. One atrocity never pronounced by American leaders, however, is the killing that resulted from America’s occupation and annexation of the Philippines in 1898. This is regarded by many historians as a clear case of genocide. Japan has resisted any apology for the "rape of Nanking," the killing of 300,000 civilians in six weeks in 1938.
The amnesia of others is no excuse for our own. We and Armenia should proceed to correct ours. But coming to terms with history is a challenge for the whole world.